This is one of the completely handmade rifles I made in the
Colonial Williamsburg Gunshop It was finished in 1978. The lock and barrel were hand forged from
wrought iron (except for the three springs, which were forged from steel). The guard
and butt piece were cast at the shop and the other brass mounts forged
there. Even the wood screws were hand filed. This rifle took about 420
man hours to build and that includes the work of two men in forging,
reaming and rifling the barrel. Getting the work done while talking to
thousands of visitors took about a year.

The carving and engraving designs are based loosely on the engraving found on
the back plate of a tall case clock made in Fredericksburg, Virginia in
the mid-18th century. That design source was chosen because there were
no known surviving rifles made in the Tidewater area and I wanted to
produce a rifle with some association to the region. There are
documented occurrences of clock makers and gunsmiths working together,
so borrowing design details and adapting them to a rifle seemed like a
reasonable option.

In the photograph above the silver square on the quarter flat of the
barrel is the hammer in hand touch mark I made and used on all my hand
forged barrels.

Colonial Williamsburg photos

English style flat faced lock similar in profile to those imported just
before the Revolutionary War. (top)